Easy Company
The Easy Company, otherwise known as''' 'E Company', '''2nd Battalion'' and "The Screaming Eagles", Easy Company was one of the US Army's most famous military units during WWII. As part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division, Easy Company missions were to involve being parachuted from C-47 transport airplanes over hostile territory, mostly in France and Germany. According to Richard Winters, company included three rifle platoons (of three twelve-man rifle squads and six-man mortar team squad) and a headquarters section - all adding up to about 140 soldiers. Easy Company are most famous for their actions during D-Day, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, all part of the Allied attempt to liberate France and invade Germany - such actions have been recorded in recent history in the novel We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories From the Band of Brothers and the TV series Band of Brothers. Battle vs. Long Range Desert Group (by BattleGames1) *LRDG: x 18 *Easy Company: x 18 The sandy dunes continue to shimmer under the desert heat as the British officer continued looking through his binoculars, waiting for the damn Yanks to arrive. Below him, also patiently lying in wait, were the rest of the officer's squadron - a few Enfield riflemen standing by the windows, the mortar team in the still lorry parked behind the taverna and behind them, sat inside the Chevys and their Willys MB jeeps, was yet another small squad of trained soldiers. Despite the intense damp heat of the garage interior, these men continued to silently while away their time. It seemed awfully quiet for a while now and the Brits were beginning to wonder where their American compatriots were to join in the tango. Suddenly, the Lieutenant spots a faint trail of deep green emerge from the sand. "Alright lads, the Yanks are closing in. Ready on my mark" the officer loudly whispered as he went down from his perch. Readying their Enfields, the riflemen on the second floor peered out through the window to witness the dust clouds come in closer. Further down, the lieutenant relayed to the mortar team the coordinates needed for the ambush to go ahead. Once the adjustments were made, a round was loaded into the chamber and the mortar captain stood by the trigger. Outside the sandy-white perimeter of the city, the American martial convoy continued to trudge along - one twelve-man rifle squad and one six-man mortar squad spread out over one lorry, 2 Dodges and 2 Willys; sent out by their superiors in the Army to deal with the British deserters - either by rounding them up or killing them on the spot. As the vehicles continued to move along, Winters, in his Dodge finishing off his cigarette, signalled to the lorry at the tail to divert and find a position where the mortar team can be safely deployed. As the lorry veered from the convoy, Winters cocked his M1 Garand rifle before turning to the rest of his rifle squad. "OK men, listen up. We're coming towards the town where the British deserters are holed up. We need to split up and cover all parts of the town if we are to draw them out" he said to them. "How much we looking at, Major?" a young olive-skinned private asked from the back seat of his own Dodge. "High command estimates about a small platoon of 18 holed up in the town. Not much else could be gathered from them" Winters replied "Mortar team in the lorry will provide cover from our rear should we encounter enemy fire. We divide into two platoons once we enter the gate..." As the Major continued to detail his plan, the mortar squad in the lorry chat a little - having already been briefed about their role beforehand. They joked a little about the British being the underdogs during the war and how lucky for them it was that the Yanks showed up and beat back the Nazis hard. As soon as the vehicle stopped just behind a small sand dune, the team stepped out and set up their mortar equipment (along with a machine gun for protection) while the driver grabbed some binoculars and looked ahead to see the rest of the convoy come to a stop outside the gate. ... As the jeeps drew to a stop near the gates and the American infantrymen leapt out of them, the British mortar team were held steady by their lieutenant. Sweat pouring down from their brow, they knew that timing was everything but that even if something goes wrong, they can compensate - if they had the right window of opportunity and wiggle room to do so that is. Out in front, the Company squad moved quietly - the eerie atmosphere of the empty town meant to them that something was amiss, just like back at Carentan. Instinctively, Major Winters silently gestured to his men to stay behind cover and to split into two groups. Before the second squad could fully disappear along the back wall of a nearby sand house, the whirr of a mortar round suddenly sounded - exploding in front of (and killing) an unsuspecting young private ( x 17) while also damaging one of the jeeps significantly. Not long after this explosion came another mortar round hurtling sand into the air. Once the large cloud of dust dispersed, little ones suddenly whirred out - the LRDG were now unleashing their rifle rounds at them. "Shit, they know we're here..." Winters muttered to himself as he witnessed another young private and his older sergeant companion started peeking from behind their cover in order to take pot shots in the direction of the Enfield shots. "Keep to the objective, men! Private Smith," he turned to a middle-aged private huddled next to him "Get on that jeep and provide us with covering fire!" "On it, sir!" Smith said as he rushed over to the still-standing jeep as fast as he could. Hopping onto its back, he firmly held onto the Browning machine gun as he started to spray bullets all over the cafe's top floor barely missing the rifleman perched up top. Without missing a beat, one of the riflemen carefully looked out the window and aimed his SMLE at the machine gunner carefully lined up in his sights. Down below, Smith paused for a while when silence fell - all seemed to be too suspiciously quiet and inactive, he thought. Instinctively, he slanted so he could see if there were no tricks involved - alas he was wrong as a bullet whizzed past his face, its path extending from the leftmost window. Training his own firearm there, Smith let loose and killed the rifleman unfortunate to stand there ( x 17) before being shot in the neck himself by another Englishman ( x 16). By the time the Englishman heard the gunfire of the Browning die down, it was again all too quiet. For the three remaining Brits, now it was their turn to feel as if something wasn't right. "You don't think they split up by now?" Sergeant Kaine whispered hoarsely to his fellow. "What do you think? It's the yanks. Bastards will always try to come up with something clever" Corporal Jones hissed back before another explosive mortar round blew up the cafe interior, sending Kaine and Jones flying out the window ( x 15) as well as one other British rifleman who landed with a thud but was otherwise unhurt. Other mortar shots exploded around them but luckily no-one else in the Group was hurt. "We gotta silence that Yankee mortar crew!" Lieutenant Clifford said as he and the British mortar team scrambled towards the garage. Heading inside, the Lieutenant ordered one of the Chevy crews to go out of the town and eliminate the American mortar team hiding behind the dunes. As the Chevy hurtled out of the garage, the Lieutenant gave the rest of the team present the rest of the orders - the remaining Chevy stays inside the garage as a surprise turret while the two jeeps manned by the mortar crew patrol the town streets keeping an eye out for the Americans. As the rest of the vehicles rolled out (save for the last Chevy), the Lieutenant turned his attention to the two young Privates left behind. "Grab your rifles gents, it's time we go out hunting" he snarled as he took out his rifle. Like snakes, the trio slithered down into as many spaces as they can where they can hide out and create an ambush. Meanwhile, led by Captain Nixon, a small band of E Company riflemen continued briskly walking down the sandy avenue, weapons at the ready. Nixon suddenly got his four subordinates find cover, as the sound of a jeep drew nearer. Taking refuge behind pillars and windows, all 5 men patiently waited for the jeep and its men to come into view. Holding his shaky Privates at bay, Nixon gestured to the two young men with him to train their sights on the driver. "What if I miss, sir?" the freckled one, Private Daniels, whispered. "If you miss, young man, you're just gonna waste bullets" Nixon chuffed back with a cheeky grin on his face. "Here they come" As the jeep inocuously passed by with its crew seated but on high alert, Private Daniels was given the OK by Nixon before he stood up and fired his Garand straight into the head of the British driver ( x 14). With that, the rest of the Brits bailed out of the decelerating jeep with their Thompsons and Enfields prepped. "Fire!" Nixon yelled as he and his squad popped out of their hiding spots letting their weapons loose while the British sought for their own cover. In that little firefight, each side moved fluidly in response to the shots fired from their opponents. Nixon's two proteges, Daniels and Adams, weren't so lucky with their lives as the former was downed with an Enfield shot between the eyes and Adams was gunned down with a Thompson ( x 14). Fortunately, perhaps because of the rage being induced within the remaining 3 Yanks, they managed to get back at the Englanders - striking down the duo of crackshots with the fury of a Thompson blast; and even as one of the British fired his Thompson in retaliation, it conked out of ammo too soon ( x 12). When the dust settled, Nixon and the remaining 2 soldiers - a Sergeant and a Corporal - scouted around seeing if any more British soldiers were going to show up. The sergeant swivelled upon hearing another vehicle whiz past but it didn't come from the road they were on. As the trio followed the noise, they ended up spotting the Chevy blindly roll past them and towards the town entrance. The Corporal aimed his Garand at one of the British soldiers (specifically the one manning the Breda) but before he could fire, the Sergeant forced a ceasefire. "No!" the Sergeant said "You'll draw unwanted attention to us!" "Better WE take them by surprise, sir" the Corporal retorted before Nixon intervened. "Franks's right. If we engage now, we could end up in worse trouble than we already are. Besides, we dunno if the Chevy's looking for us or simply escaping" he said bringing the anrgy Corporal to his senses. After the tensions fell, the trio exited down the main road, continuing their objective to sweep around. Outside town behind the sand dune, the mortar team continued to stay alert, hoping that they see another sign that told them to let off another barrage of mortar fire. Unfortunately, there wasn't any but that didn't cause so much worry - after all, the team knew that with a hero like Winters leading the men, he might come up with something clever. As Sergeant Smithers looked through his binoculars he could see a faint tan jeep stick its head out of the main gate. "Shit. The Brits are coming for us" he said, forcing his comrades to drop whatever provisions they ate and scramble towards the mortar. "How far out are they?" one of the Privates asked as he held one of the rounds over the mortar tube. "They just got out of the main gate. Few hundred yards in front of us" Smithers said before relaying a set of coordinates that would hopefully allow the mortar team to pinpoint the moving target, giving out the extra order "Get that machine gun ready in case they come close!" Soon the American mortar team was firing off more rounds hoping to deter the mighty Chevy from coming any closer - the rounds only served to push the British truck forward more. Luckily, the swerving of the truck gave some of the mortar crew to set up the Browning - and once the Chevy came within a certain distance, the machine gun was let loose with its surpressive rate of fire - at the same time as the passenger inside the Chevy let loose with his Vickers. Bullets began flying from both ends with both sides eventually scoring one hit - the Brits their driver ( x 11), the Americans their combat medic ( x 13). As the Chevy came really close to the dune, the mortar crew scattered back into the truck, hoping to make a quick getaway. With the Brits scrambling to bring their Chevy under control, the Americans got to what they believed to be a safe distance - hopefully outside the range and sight of the Vickers machine gun. "Hold on, Peterson! I got the controls!" Corporal Rush yelled has his hands interchanged from the Vickers to the steering wheel. Quickly thinking on his feet, Rush quickly jolted the steering wheel and the Chevy did a full 180 - lining the Breda autocannon well within sight of the lorry. The Americans seated at the back of the lorry noticed this move and tried to notify Smithers, who was driving them, about the threat. Within a split second, Smithers grabbed the rocket launcher seated by his side and leapt out just as the autocannon fired onto the soldiers, killing all who were unlucky to be seen ( x 9) and causing the vehicle to explode. "Good show, Private!" Rush tapped Peterson on the shoulder. The young private shook out of his awe-struck state and said to Rush "Glad I could help, sir" "Now let's get back into town. No doubt the Lieutenant needs our help" Rush said before flooring the pedal. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Smithers - somehow caught within that explosion but barely alive - had the vehicle within his sights. Vengeance surging through whatever blood was still within him, the Sergeant crawled forward in order to compensate the rocket's trajectory with the Chevy's movement before pulling the trigger. The last thing he could see before his vision faded completely was the rocket careening through the air before hitting the Chevy dead on target. ( x 8; x 9) Back inside the town, the Lieutenant and the Sergeant with him heard the explosion of the Chevy, albeit faintly from their position high up in the ruined building. Seeing the smoke plume rise above the city walls, the Lieutenant cursed himself. "It's OK, we've got the higher ground now. Those yanks have got nothing on us now" the cockney Sergeant proclaimed, making the Lieutenant smile - at least outwardly. Suddenly they hear yet another exchange of fire occur down below with more men taking the fall. To his dismay, he saw his Willys MB jeeps retreat with just it's driver in it just before the unfortunate man could have his brains blown out ( x 6). Knowing full well that there were 5 men coming in from the left-hand side of town, the Sergeant aimed his rifle down the line to see which unfortunate soldier's head would be poked out. Rushing out from their positions behind the smashed wooden market carts where a couple of bodies laid, Winters and his two proteges ( x 6) ducked and weaved as the cockney Sergeant began taking potshots. Inside the garage, the remaining Chevy continued to wait idly as the men heard the potshots be taken. "We can't just sit in here, Dolland. We need to be out there doing something" Private Carmen hoarsely whispered to his driver. The driver quipped back "Lieutenant's orders are that we stay in here until the Yanks come into view - element of surprise and all..." Not satisfied, the young Private hopped down from his position on the Breda and rushed out of the garage with his Enfield out. Before he could get a shot out, he was sniped by Winters with the Garand ( x 5). In retaliation, the cockney Sergeant took a headshot out of the American directly beside Winters ( x 5). While fazed, Winters sought cover inside the shop next to him, commanding his remaining protege to do the same. "Dammit, they're out of my line of sight" the cockney Sergeant silently fumed. "Patience, my boy. These Americans may be smart, but damned if they aren't so cocky" the Lieutenant silently reassured him. Suddenly, the sound of cracked glass resonated through the air and the two Brits froze. Hearing a metallic thud on the floor, they realised that a grenade had entered the room. Within milliseconds both officers tried to flee, but the Lieutenant was the only one who could escape the blast radius ( x 4). Grabbing the dead Sergeant's rifle, the Lieutenant sped off downstairs to his lorry - grabbing his own grenade launcher. Down in the street, Nixon, Franks and Corporal Halley arrived to see the Lieutenant just disappear from view. "Looks like the rest of the Brits are holed up in the garage. Let's move out and hope we catch them by surprise" Nixon said. The trio crouched low as they made their way up to the garage, unknowingly passing by an alleyway which a middle-aged British Private lay in wait, ME Commando knife at the ready. As Halley walked into his field of vision after Nixon and Franks, the Private emerged from the shadows and stuck his knife firmly into Halley's nape ( x 4). Before he could repeat the manouevre on Franks, Nixon turned around and whipped out his Colt, unloading a couple of bullets into the Private's chest ( x 3). The shots did not go unnoticed in the garage and without hesitation, the driver inched the Chevy out of the garage while his passenger began firing off his Vickers at the pair on the right. Immediately seeking cover, Nixon took cover in the small alley the Brit once occupied while Franks tried to hide himself behind another sand wall - unfortunately being gunned down in the process by a combination of the Vickers fire and the driver's own revolver ( x 3). While this happened, the soldier opposite Winters on their side of the street took out his own grenade - on Winters' count of three, the grenade was tossed right under the Chevy's undercarriage. Before the Brits knew it, they were incinerated in the ensuing explosion ( x 1). The poor Lieutenant, all alone, decided enough was enough and - from his hiding spot in the first storey of the building he was initially in - fired off his own EY grenade launcher, managing to knock Winters' protege down before it exploded in his face ( x 2) and subsequently knocking Winters unconscious. Seeing this, Nixon espied the Lieutenant hiding back inside the building's main living space before rushing it to exact his revenge - his KA-BAR knife drawn. Anticipating this, the British Lieutenant drew out his own FS dagger and posed ready to accept the challenge of a knife fight. Both combatants circled the room trying to feint his opponent into striking first - with Nixon being the first to cave in. Luckily for him, his knife movements managed to keep his opponent's knife at bay. The two continued to clash blades and fists as the melee consumed the entire room - with cushions, furniture and even the pottery being used as tactical measures. At first it seemed as if the Lieutenant would win the fight, his brutish frame being able to slightly overpower Nixon's own - and it almost seemed as if the American would die as the FS blade was held right close to his neck. If it hadn't been for a glimpse of Captain Winters appearing at the doorway, Nixon would have been another unwanted casualty - seeing his friend pop into view and the tip of the dagger almost touching the cloth of his jacket, Nixon suddenly kicked the Lieutenant in the balls propelling him back towards an awaiting Winters. Holding his trench knife up to the Lieutenant's ears, Winters whispered to the shaken Englander "This one's for my men!" before slashing the throat open with a swift flick of the wrist ( x 0). As the Lieutenant's corpse fell to the floor, Nixon and Winters traded cheeky smiles as friends would. Despite wanting to move in for a hug, Nixon instead asked "So... how are we getting out of town? Doubt there's any surviving vehicles to take" Winters simply replied "As I was going through the street down there, I thought I saw a wireless radio. I'll contact base and see if they can arrange us a lift home... and about 30 or so body bags" Winner: Easy Company Expert's Opinion While the LRDG were no doubt excellent at taking down their enemies at long range, the experts believed that the other weapons Easy Company brought with them allowed the Americans to dominate the close combat field; in addition to this, their edges over the British in the important X-Factors of teamwork and logistics (while tying with them in experience) allowed them to seal the win, although just barely. If you find this battle to be unfair in any way, shape or form, you can go ahead and do a rematch. To see the original battle, weapons and votes, click here. Battle vs. United States Marine Corps (by Killermoves) Five Easy Company paratroppers were dropped by a Flying Fortress on an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Their mission, to kill any Axis resistance in that territory. On the other side, the Battleship Iowa drops in a landing craft filled with five Marines. Their job was to scout for any hostilities in that island so that some big shot military unit can parachute in their and take credit for that island. Little did the two forces knew that the place has been abandoned, and that there has been a miscalcuations with the schedule of their missions. The Paratroopers landed roughly on the jungle. It took some time to take off their chutes which has been untangled in the trees. The Marines easily trudged through the island after they landed on the beach without any oppositions. Then in the center of the jungle, the two units met. And they untrustingly aimed their weapons at each other. "Who the fuck are you?" says one paratrooper. "Where Americans you fuck wits," A marine replied. "Never seen any of those uniforms before boy, is this some kind of trick," "It ain't, and I'm ordering you to put down your weapons or we blow ya'll to hell," "Don't you do it son!" "I said put down your weapons!!," Both platoons fired at each other at the same time. A paratrooper was killed instantly as well as a marine. Both sides took cover behind the trees. The Marines unleashed down their tommy guns and easily pinned down the Easy Company. One paratrooper was cut in half with machine gun fire. Their officer ordered his paratrooper to retreat back. The Marines soon followed behind. One paratrooper planted a booby trap in the forest with his sticky bomb, and the explosion killed of a marine. As the marines were gaining, the paratroopers came across a hill which they took positions into. As the marines race to get the paratroopers on top of the hill, the latter opened fire on them, killing one marine, and sending the others running back. The paratroopers have gained high ground. Cursing, the last two marines were indoubtedly trapped and pinned down. One marine, knowing that they wouldn't get out of this one, packed up his flamethrower and patted his fellow marine on the shoulder. He ran towards the hill and the paratroopers openned fire with their grease guns, hitting him multiple times on the torso. But with his remaining strength, poured down on the hill with the flamethrower. The flames engulfed the whole hill, burning two paratroopers to death, while one survivor tumbled down the hill. The marine then dies on the hill with the flamethrower still on hand. The last paratrooper was shocked and burned at what happened. He was badly injured and needs to get out of there quickly. But it was too late, as a marine aimed his carbine at him and poured all bullets of his mag at the paratroopers' head, killing him. The marines went back to his landing craft and signaled the battleship that it was a mission accomplished. "Now, go tell them chutersboys that the island is now safe and secured to be landed," he said to the rest of those who picked him up. Expert's Opinion The Marines won due to a combination of overall better weaponry, experience, and X-factors. They were also physically tough and successful than the Easy Company. To see the original battle, weapons and votes, click here. Category:Warriors Category:Human Warriors Category:World War Warriors Category:Real Warriors Category:North American Warriors Category:US Warriors Category:Group Warriors Category:Modern Warriors